Two years ago, Singapore had stunned Nepal beating them in the ACC U16 Elite Cup final at TU Ground, Kathmandu. Malaysia’s Bayemas Oval offered a chance to avenge that bitter defeat and Nepal produced a classy performance to advance to the final defeating defending champions by 101 runs.
Both captains, Nepal’s Dipendra Chand and Singapore’s Navin Param were part of 2010 final that Singapore won by 68 runs – thanks to spinners led by man of the match Param. This time, Dipendra knew exactly what to do – choosing to bat first and going after pace bowlers to ensure minimal impact of spin.
Dipendra and Nurdhoj Sen opened batting as if they were playing Super Sixes. When Dipendra fell for 20 of 9 balls in fourth over, Nepal already had a solid opening partnership of 40 runs. It provided a foundation for other batsmen to play freely and they utilized the opportunity best reading 240 for 9 in 40 overs.
Nurdhoj scored 51 off 60 balls with 9 fours while the top scorer was Jagdish Chand. Jagdish scored 53 runs off just 24 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Other contributors were Aadil Khan (21 off 42), Rupesh Bastola (21 off 18), Alfas Mansuri (18 off 32) and Kalicharan Yadav (14 off 6).
For Singapore, Aalap Asuriekar was the most successful bowler taking 4 wickets while Kaushik Illango, Archit Goenka and Abhinav each claimed two wickets.
Although Nepal achieved a comfortable 101-run victory at the end, it didn’t come without early threat from Singaporean batsmen. The openers Archit Goenka and Vaikynth Seshadri added 81 in 16 overs giving enough scares to Nepal. Goenka was run-out on 39 off 51 balls which began the fall of the innings.
Seshadri scored 47 off 72 balls before he fell to another run-out after seeing the innings crumbling with no one else getting runs. The only other batsman to reach double digit was No 9 Simar Miglani, who was not out on 14.
Man of the match Jagdish grabbed 3 wickets along with Akash Bista. Rupesh Bastola and Dipendra Chand also claimed a wicket each.
Nepal will now meet Malaysia in the final on Sunday.